·Cross-listing undergraduate/graduate courses:
a draft policy was distributed to
Executive Committee members for comment. Motion may be ready for March Senate
meeting. Feedback received thus far indicates need for such a policy for
different reasons, including FTE issues. Once policy approved, SACS interested
in its implementation.

·Registrar’sproposal to shorten ADD period for classes:Census period occurs two weeks into the
semester, impossible to change to a week.If no changes made to ADD period, need to make changes to DROP period.The committee is still wading through issues.

Discussion:Need for explicit statement advising
students who ADD that they have missed work; otherwise unduly difficult for
professors.Would ADD date include two
full weeks?Financial aid money cannot
be released unitl add period finished.Some classes meet once weekly.Some schools have “shopping period” in which students attend classes and
decide which ones to keep.Could we have
language to say “this is viable if you’ve attended every class?” Proposal may
be more suitable on campuses where many students live.In some classrooms there are a finite number
of chairs, especially in computer classrooms.

B.Budget and Resources – Rick Coffinberger

·Furlough Options:it is still unclear whether there will be a
furlough day between now and June 30th.If there is one, to make equitable for 12 month/9 month faculty, and to
spread over two-three pay periods.Suggest AAUP create a handout on topic for those faculty who wish to
discuss topic during part of a class period, noting some faculty are uncomfortable
about discussing this in class.

·Budget Planning Team Meetings:the next meeting takes place tomorrow.Also meetings with Morrie Scherrens and Donna
Kidd helpful, but not a lot of news (at this time).

·Procedure for Consideration of Faculty Handbook
revisions:referred to O&O Committee.

·Furlough Options: - no news at this time.

·Domestic Partner Benefits:Michael Wolf-Branigin
is working on this.

Discussion:Ken Cuccinelli, newly elected VA Attorney General, has advised
removal of proposed legislation ( includes payment of full fees for domestic
partners).As reported today in the Washington
Post, Governor McDonnell has not issued a statement discouraging any kind
of discrimination for public employees.As Attorney General, McDonnell opposed any such statement about sexual
orientation/discrimination.

·Cost of recreation for faculty:Jim Sanford has sent questionnaires to other
Virginia and peer institutions.

·Bookstore Concerns:Larry Rockwood is working on this.I have heard no recent complaints this year. Discussion:At another instituion, a student was not
permitted to return an electronic book after dropping the course.A faculty member requested a book but was
not told it was out-of-print; students ultimately found copies elsewhere.Many students buy books on Amazon.com..

·Faculty Practice
Plan (see V.New Business/Discussion)

·Teaching
Contributions of Administrative Faculty:Linda Schwartzstein
will request this data.It was noted
that teaching load assumed by administrative faculty with no additional
compensation would be a real boon morale-wise to instructional faculty.Colleagues around the US are impressed that
our central administrators also teach.

D.Nominations – Jim Bennett

Faculty Committee to Evaluate the President:The
number of nominees equaled the number of vacancies, and the Committee will meet
tomorrow.

Discussion: When the
Provost's contract was up for renewal, members of the Executive Committee who
served were invited to a meeting and gave a report.Suggestion made to standardize this practice
for renewal of the President's contract also, as a good precedent.The Committee to Evaluate the President will
decide whether it will hold an open forum, as well as ways to receive faculty
input.

·Motion to establish an ad hoc committee to
review the Senate Charter and ByLaws was referred to O&O at the end of the
last Senate meeting.Some committee
members believe O&O should handle this, do not see need for a new
committee.

Faculty Practice Plan: Recent reports among
some term faculty in CHHSindicate that
they will be required to participate in the Faculty Practice Plan in the second
year of their contracts, or face a 25% salary reduction in the final year of a
three year contract.To the best of his
knowledge, Chair Peter Pober noted that no one in the Counsel's Office, Human
Resources, or the Provost's Office approved this type of mandate.The concerned faculty did not receive a
response to their questions regarding whether they would receive a one-course
reduction, or any reduction in committee responsibilites in the final year
under this scenario. Four faculty have already resigned; several more faculty
also contemplate resignation.Because it
is so difficult to find quality faculty for the School of Nursing, those who
resign will (likely) find jobs in their fields.A partnership with INOVA Hospital may provide more faculty.Although the confusion focuses on one
college, the FPP has been touted as a model for the Mason community.

Chair Peter Pober summarized three big issues:

-1-Are faculty compelled to sign or lose their
jobs?Will there be a 25% reduction in
salary for additional year of contract?

-2- How are (teaching)
assignments diseminated and differentiated?Can you fill class with another faculty member?

-3-Is the Faculty Practice Plan a
model for GMU, or is "something under the radar" really going on?

Linda Schwartzstein reported that Dean Travis and Pat Donini
(Deputy Director of HR/Payroll) met with affected faculty, and heard that
faculty felt better about the FPP after this meeting.The FPP was originally discussed as a pilot
program, providing an opportunity for faculty to participate ifwished to do so.She added that Dean Travis must have received
legal guidance.(The FPP was first
discussed by the Faculty Senate at its February
13, 2008 meeting, and subsequently approved by the Faculty Senate at its March
4, 2008 meeting.Faculty may choose
to participate in the FPP on a voluntary basis.)

The Executive Committee decided to invite Dean Travis, and
representatives from the Human Resources and the University Counsel's Office to
its next meeting (February 22, 2010) to discuss issues.Additional questions include:Does CHHS have documentation of the
Plan?Does the 25% reduction in salary
appear in writing?Other observations
included perception of GMU as unreasonable, using "cliff"
metaphor.Does this impact
accreditation?In contrast to
tenured/tenure-track faculty, term faculty contracts give departments more
flexibility – it is within their contracts not to expect future
employment.This is not the way to treat
term faculty who served GMU for a long time and have done well..Some term faculty have gone through the
promotion process, receiving promotions in rank.

Summer School:Cathy Evans, Director of the Summer Term, will attend our next meeting
to answer questions and will also attend the March 3rd Senate
Meeting.The Faculty Matters Committee
will distribute a draft letter to the Executive Committee.

Resolution of Appreciation to Rector Volgenau:Jim Bennett will distribute a draft
resolution for inclusion on the Feb. 10th meeting agenda.

Faculty Course Evaluation Form:GMU obviously continues to be moving to
an on-line evaluation system.The
College of Science has used the on-line form, initial response rate no more
than 5-7% lower, but still in early stages of testing.A testing process will occur in the School
of Management.A lot of people are
involved in the process, and understand the deep concerns.On-line evaluations are much quicker and
cheaper to distribute, nor do they consume class time.Under the present system, faculty receive
results about three weeks into the next semester.

The key question is:If the evaluations are on-line, would anybody have access to qualitative
data?At present, department chairs have
access to data.Although this does not
seem to have occured, some faculty are concerned that students who do not go to
class can provide evaluations on-line. Are students less likely to provide
on-line evaluations outside the classroom?Students have asked faculty whether they could receive extra credit for
filling out evaluations; the answer is NO.Some (colleges/schools) may offer incentives for departments which
receive a certain amount (percentage) back.We will contact Kris Smith (Associate Provost, Institutional Research
& Reporting) for more information.

Teaching Loads: Ken Hubble (Director, Internal Audit &
Mgmt Services) is curious aboutvariances among teaching loads -with respect to research buyouts as well as many types of work faculty
do.Eight years ago, the AAUP prepared a
handout, "What do professors do?."Now we spend even more time on email, and we need to communicate again
increasing student loads.